Broken Arrow
by Raccoon Goddess
Summary: Real life AU. Roy robs a store, drugs, cussing, character death. Rated M for safety. (Full Story now online) Please review


Broken Arrow

Sarah Wright

We were walking into Star City's main Wal-Mart. Jade, my wife, was next to me, holding our only daughter, Julie. They shared the same ebony black hair, dark Korean skin and sharp eyes. Jade's went clear down her back past her slender hips, while Julie's barely came off her head. The only thing that made her seem mine was her bright blue eyes, seemingly all-knowing in spite her age of two years.

"We need some diapers, milk, baby food…" Jade's smoky voice went on, listing all the things I knew we needed. I was leaning on the cart, strong arms crossed as we kept walking. On my left wrist was a fading tattoo of a bow and arrow, filled in with red ink on the shaft and bow. Half of it was covered with my red sweater's sleeve, black pieces of lint clung to the old fabric.

A few other people were in the store, none of them paying attention to the obviously dysfunctional family. We were dressed in old dingy clothes: Jade in an old tank top and green cargo pants, me in my god awful red sweater and worn jeans, and Julie in her light blue onesie and dark green cap. Julie laughed at something down the children's aisle. I smiled, even though my veins were burning under the skin.

Jade seemed to see this, turning her dark black eyes to me. "You're not freaking out on me are you?" she taunted.

"No," I half ground out. In truth I felt like I would. Everything seemed too sharp, so bright. A light sweat was already building on my forehead. I had shot up not an hour ago and already the drugs were filtering out of my symptoms. I let out a sigh, a wave of pain erupting in my brain causing white lights to flash behind my lids. "Maybe…" I barely whispered, not even meaning to.

Jade shook her head, her hair flowing behind her in the tail she had put it in. I hated it that way, loving it more when it was let loose, to be crazy just as she was. It would poof up, looking like a lion's, making her sharp features look even more so. I loved her when she was like that; when she was relaxed enough to be like that.

I shook my head, my mind drifting from the scene in front of me was not what we needed right now. _My arm began to itch, the tug of the last pin hole burning for more to be pumped in._ Ignoring it though, we began moving towards the food area of the store.

More people were here, old biddies and their insane husbands. Jade went straight to the milk area, grabbing a jug with a red label and placed it in the cart along with Julie. Our daughter squealed when her skin touched the cold item. Another smile spread over my lips, but it stung, stretching as if it were going to big when it was small. Again a rush of pain went through me. The fire was back, my body completely clenching up as it had increased from before.

"Roy?" I looked up to see my wife, brow furrowed in disappointment. "I've been trying to get your attention for five minutes, now." I apologized, my voice sounding hoarser than it had before, like sandpaper. She shook her head and grabbed the front of the cart, dragging it and me behind her. Julie once again let out a giggle, arms raised in the air. It caused the pain to come back, probably a migraine from the withdrawal. "Hush, sweetie," Jade cooed, "Daddies not feeling to good right now."

Yes, she knew what was going on with me. She had even supplied me with the fix this time knowing how much my body craved it. It was a sick relationship, her giving me the thing that would most likely be my downfall. Still, every time I put that needle to my vein, her face would be a scowl, angry and distrusting. I had never gone too far with it, I remained calm and usually just sat about the apartment too high to even register I had dropped the empty needle. Not once had I lashed out at Jade or Julie, or even the others of our family. Her scowl wasn't pointed at me, or even the drug, it was to herself, going to herself for letting me continue the sick habit I had picked up a year before our relationship had even begun.

The next thing I knew we were at the checkout. Jade was putting things on the belt that I hadn't even seen her grab_. Diapers, salt, sugar, a book from that series she was reading to Jade about mutant bird kids, a large ham, some party pizzas, chips, three litters of pop and finally a box of gummy-snacks for Julie to chew on._ She was just starting to get all her teeth, a few missing in the front, and those things were her addiction.

The cashier, an old woman with dark brown hair, fleck of silver at her forehead, kept giving me sideways glances. Probably thinking I was some bum, which I was, that didn't deserve the family before me, which I didn't.

"Forty-two, eighteen, please," She said mechanically. Jade pulled out a credit card. Oliver, my adoptive father, gave it to me when I was eighteen. One of those emergency cards. We would pay him back, later today even.

The money was accepted and I helped Julie out of the cart so I could place the bags in. She clung to my shoulder, pulling at the dog tags that hung on my chest. I was ex-military, served two years in Iraq before I was discharged for medical leave. Got shot in the back of the leg, shattered my left kneecap and broken my calf bone. It was at the hospital that I met Jade, and we hit it off pretty well. I flirted to her through a morphine haze, which she found adorable even though the word would never leave her lips, and only when I was sent home did she agree to a date.

We walked out to the car, Jade taking the cart since Julie was too enthralled by my tags for me to put her down. We had parked in a blind spot, a place where the cameras and the cashiers couldn't see us. It was a stolen car, something I'm not proud of but Jade it, a brand new Mercedes with tinted windows and bright red finish. Jade loaded the trunk while I put Julie in her car seat, unclasping my tags so I could get out. She gave me a kiss on the cheek and snuggled into the warm seat.

I closed the door gently and went to the trunk. Jade was already changed into her outfit. A black sweater covered her tank-top and she had changed her cargo pants for a pair of black jeans. Her hair was down and she had put extensions in, bright red, to make it seem as if she dyed her hair.

I pulled of my sweater, exchanging it for a black one as well, grabbed a beanie from the car to cover my red head and then grabbed my weapon of choice, a bow and quiver of arrows. Jade grabbed an actual gun. "I still don't understand why you use that thing." She stated, loading a magazine.

"I'm better with it than you are with that." I told her through clenched teeth. I didn't know how much longer I would be able to ignore the pain.

I didn't want to shoot up again, not with this going on, not with Julie in the car right where she can watch. That was my one rule, never in front of her. We made sure she was out of the house whenever I did or at least in a different room asleep. She didn't need to see me like that, weak, drained, using drugs that she should never turn to. Hypocrite, am I right?

Jade pulled a mask out of the trunk, a weird mask that made her look like a Japanese cat. Cheshire is what she called it, or herself when she wore it. I pulled out one for myself, a domino mask like the ones those superheroes wear in the comics. It had white lenses so no would be able to see my eyes.

"You ready?" she asked. I nodded, even though my elbow felt like it was burnt to the bone. Jade shook her head and reached into the duffle that had held our getups and then held a needle. She didn't give me a second to react as she plunged the needle into the large artery of my neck. Immediately I felt the effects.

As the plunger hit home I stepped back, holding the spot where the needle went in. "Are you fucking insane?" I shouted, my anger sound to calm.

"Maybe, but I need you focused right now. She needs you focused." She gestured to the inside of the car where our daughter was now asleep.

I shook my head, trying to shake off the relaxed feeling that soon be replaced with adrenaline. And it was, making me breathe hard. "Whatever…" I snapped, pulling with quiver over my shoulders and loaded the bow. "Let's get this shit over with."

Cheshire nodded and ducked into a run, going back to the Wal-Mart.

We had done this many times, going from place to place. People were calling it a crime spree, others just some stupid couple robbing everything in sight. We went in through the back, coming out in the weapons section of the store. Cheshire went up behind the cashier, a young teen with cropped blond hair. "Be quiet." She ordered, the mask distorting her voice to sound like a purr.

The kid stiffened, felling the metal tip of her gun at the back of his head. "P-please, don't hurt me." He begged. His voice was higher than normal, probably the fear gripping his throat. I went up in front of him, and pulled a black bag out of my quiver.

"Put the money in the bag." I ordered, and shoved it in the kid's arms. He started shaking, fumbling with the register. I looked around, my body shaking from the rush it was getting. The kid whimpered as I heard a smack. Turning I saw Cheshire fix her gun back into place. She had hit him with the butt, knocking him to his knees.

"Trying to hit the alarm." She explained. I nodded and notched the arrow onto the string.

"Try it again and you'll have more than just a bullet wound to worry about." My voice was strangely calm.

The kid was crying now, tears streaming down his face. A second later the alarms sounded. I jumped and the arrow slipped. _It shot with a wine and thunked into the teen's skull._ He flew back, the arrow burying to the feather in the kid before throwing him onto the ground. Cheshire jumped and looked at me.

'What the hell did I just do?' I thought. Never before had I taken a life. Threaten, maybe, beat to within an inch of life, duh, but kill, murder. Never had I released an arrow into a person's head. But there laid a kid, probably not even eighteen yet, blood pooling around his head. The name tag read 'Tecadeh', a strange name probably from an even stranger mother.

"Red… Red… RED!" I felt a hand on my shoulder, knocking me out of my shocked state. I looked to her ask, no emotion reading on it. "Red, we've got to go! Come on!" she pulled on my arm, dragging me back the way we had managed in.

I heard thundering footsteps not far off from where we were, hundreds maybe. How long had I been standing there, how long had the alarm been going off? "Red, we have to go!" there was panic in Cheshire's voice, breaking whatever hold this situation had on me.

We ran, leaving the body and the bag of money that we desperately needed. _Cheshire was in front of me as we came to the exit, the bright red sign like an omen for what would happen next._ As the door flew open, Cheshire's form was covered in a white spotlight. Her back seemed like a silhouette in front of me.

"Come out with your hands up!" come a loud, booming voice. "We have you surrounded. Put down the weapons and come out with your hands up!"

We both acted on reflex, Cheshire raising her gun while I raised my bow. Shots rang through the air, and blood flew into my face. Cheshire dropped while I kept leasing out arrows. My aim was dead on as the light became nothing bit a nuisance as my projectiles flew with ease. I didn't think of what I was doing, letting my mind race with the drug in me.

I knew I was being shot, but the euphoria I felt from the drug finally took hold of my mind, making the whole world fade. The shots felt like small tugs, the light dimmed and I no longer was able to shoot straight. There was a tug on my shoulder, leaving my right arm useless. I looked at it, my mind thinking 'Why isn't it working?'

It was then that the events came crashing into me. I don't know what caused the drug to stop working either because of the amount of pressure, my high metabolism or the fact that it was a fucked up mix. My eyes dropped to the floor where Cheshire was, blood pooling from her chest, her gun still clenched in her already pale hands. Her mask had fallen off to show the shock, fear and dread in her eyes.

The weight of the situation hit me, along with the pain, not the withdrawal, but the shots. It felt like I was made into Swiss cheese. I looked out over the police cars, not ten feet behind them I could see Julie. She had managed to get her seat belt off and was looking out the window of the car. My tags were in her hands, shining. Police officers were going towards the car, a woman with blonde hair taking her into her arms.

She was crying, pointing towards me and the police officers. The woman looked, dark blue eyes met mine. She was not just any woman; she was Artemis, Jade's younger sister. She looked in pain, and I could see the disappointment in her gaze.

I dropped to my knees. Just barely over the roar of fire running up and down my torso, I could hear Julie's cries. "Mommy's hurt! Daddy needs help. Auntie!" she was screaming at the blonde, who didn't even seem to hear her as she just stared at me.

Just barely, I managed to say one last thing, looking at the little girl that was mine. "Sorry baby girl," I then felt my body tilt forward, everything fading to a nothingness of pain and darkness.

FIN


End file.
